Validation of a Wearable Sensor for Stress Response in a Virtual Reality Environment

Wearable sensor technology is being developed that may allow, for the first time, the ability for individuals to better recognized their level of stress in any given situation on a continuous basis. A major focus of many of these wearable sensors is being able to accurately analyze and track heart rate variability (HRV), which is indicative of primarily parasympathetic/vagal tone and emotional state.3 However there is a need to validate the reliability of this measured response and understand any inter-individual variability. The present study will take advantage of virtual reality scenarios to expose healthy volunteers to controlled stressful situations during monitoring with several standardized lab-based non-invasive physiological sensors as well as a novel wrist band sensor device to track individual response to stress.